Bag It...

Sometimes I think our era will be remembered for the scourge that is plastic bags...  Remember when it was "paper or plastic"?  Now it seems to be plastic or "bring your own".  And it certainly seems that one can't go far without seeing discarded plastic bags laying around.

I saw this one flapping in the wind in a nearby corn field.  That's far from uncommon here, where suburbia bumps up against farmland.  

As Linus once said:  "I love mankind, it's PEOPLE I can't stand".

Randomness #9674

So...  We're still having washing machine issues (waiting on a part), so we're still making excursions to the laundromat at Monclair Shopping Center.  Which gives me a little time to wander around the area and nab a few photos. 

Last week, I came across this space being renovated... Seems that it used to be a dentist's office. Now on the way to be something else. BIT.... There's a couple of big red signs taped to the doors announcing a "work Stoppage". Apparently they got crosswise with the building inspector or something. Anyway, I thougt it was interesting, with the blue wall and all.

Some other images from these excursionas ar:

here

here

here

here 

here

 

Old Building #9554

Yep, I do like old, decaying buildings...  Abandoned chunks of days gone by...  testaments to the impermanence of man.  blah, blah, blah.

This is a fascinating building in O'Fallon, IL, not far from work.  There's a little bike trail stub headed east from St. Ellen Mine Park, which runs about 1/2 mile and dead-ends at Hartman Road.  This old building is about 50 yds before the road, but the building isn't easily visible to folk driving by...

As seen in Google-maps:

The top shot is actually the west facing wall, which I presume is the back (since it faces away from the nearest road.  Below is more of an overview, showing the "front" and north side:

I spent some time a while back trying to find something out about this building (just some internet searching).  But no luck.  I wish there was some way (shy of trespassing) to see (and photograph) the inside...

Cold and Lonesome

Every once in a while one has to go fully into the world of effects.  This is one of those images....

This one is actually from mid January, not sure why it didn't get posted here at the time.  Here it is at 365project.  But, better late than never.  I was really pleased with t he way this turned out, pretty close to exactly what I was thinking when I pressed the shutter release.  That doesn't seem to happen all that frequently with highly manipulated images (for me at least).

Maybe I should get a print of this one....

Water's Edge

This is an iPhone photo, tweaked on my iPad...   Just a samll slice of life, something noticed in one of the small ponds at St. Ellen Mine Park.

Maybe a little subtle, but I rather like it...

Continuing the series, running late for February:

What were the top songs of the month in February 1987 (30 years ago)?  Well, looking at Billboard's Hot 100, ranking by peak position during the month, with ties settled by average position over the 5 weeks of the month....  and presenting the top 40:

              Song  -  Artist  -  Peak

1. Livin' On APrayer  -  Bon Jovi  -  1
2. Open Your Heart  -  Madonna  -  1
3. Keep Your Hands To Yourself  -  The Georgia Satellites  -  2
4. Jacob s Ladder  -  Huey Lewis  -  2
5. At This Moment  -  Billy Vera  -  2
6. Will You Still Love Me?  -  Chicago  -  3
7. Change Of Heart  -  Cyndi Lauper  -  3
8. Touch Me (I Want Your Body)  -  Samantha Fox  -  4
9. You Got It All  -  The Jets  -  5
10. Somewhere Out There (From "An American Tail")  -  Linda Ronstadt  -  6
11. Land Of Confusion  -  Genesis  -  6
12. Ballerina Girl  -  Lionel Richie  -  7
13. Respect Yourself  -  Bruce Willis  -  7
14. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)  -  Beastie Boys  -  8
15. Someday  -  Glass Tiger  -  8
16. Love You Down  -  Ready For The World  -  9
17. Big Time  -  Peter Gabriel  -  9
18. We're Ready  -  Boston  -  9
19. C est La Vie  -  Robbie Nevil  -  11
20. MandolinRain  -  Bruce Hornsby  -  12
21. Nobody s Fool  -  Cinderella  -  13
22. Shake You Down  -  Gregory Abbott  -  13
23. I ll Be Alright Without You  -  Journey  -  14
24. Stop To Love  -  Luther Vandross  -  15
25. Let s Wait Awhile  -  Janet Jackson  -  15
26. Control  -  Janet Jackson  -  16
27. I Wanna Go Back  -  Eddie Money  -  17
28. Brand New Lover  -  Dead Or Alive  -  20
29. This Is The Time  -  Billy Joel  -  20
30. Talk To Me  -  Chico DeBarge  -  21
31. Nothing s Gonna Stop Us Now  -  Starship  -  21
32. Lean On Me  -  Club Nouveau  -  22
33. Come Go With Me  -  Expose  -  23
34. Can t Help Falling In Love  -  Corey Hart  -  24
35. Stay The Night  -  Benjamin Orr  -  24
36. Facts Of Love  -  Jeff Lorber  -  27
37. Tonight,Tonight, Tonight  -  Genesis  -  27
38. Candy  -  Cameo  -  28
39. Jimmy Lee  -  Aretha Franklin  -  28
40. Victory  -  Kool  -  29

Aside, the Bostn video is from the show we saw in 2016 (but not mine)...

Get The Point?

Another little thing for a 365project challenge.  It is called "Flash Of Red";  during February, folk are challeneged to shoot b&w, except for 2/14 when they add a flash of red.  Obviously, I'll all down with the month of b&w, but wasn't sure about the flash of red part...

Naturally, I wasn't going to do some valentine-y hearts and romance thing...  nothing wrong with that, just not my style.  The above is what I came up with.  I dunno, I kind of like it.  even though it is sort of forced, and besides the selective color also includes a bit of the somewhat cliche Dutch Tilt. 

I ended up doing a couple of other "flash of red" shots in the subsequent days, included herre for your viewing pleasure.  Click for larger versions.:

Top 40 Hits - February 1977

Continuing the series, running late for February:

What were the top songs of the month in February 1977 (40 years ago)?  Well, looking at Billboard's Hot 100, ranking by peak position during the month, with ties settled by average position over the 5 weeks of the month....  and presenting the top 40:

           Song  -  Artist  -  Peak (Feb)

1. New Kid InTown  -  Eagles  -  1
2. Torn Between Two Lovers  -  Mary Macgregor  -  1
3. Blinded By The Light  -  Manfred Mann's Earth Band  -  1
4. Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born)  -  Barbra Streisand  -  2
5. Car Wash  -  Rose Royce  -  2
6. Dazz  -  Brick  -  3
7. Fly Like An Eagle  -  Steve Miller  -  4
8. I Like Dreamin'  -  Kenny Nolan  -  5
9. Hot Line  -  The Sylvers  -  5
10. Enjoy Yourself  -  The Jacksons  -  6
11. I Wish  -  Stevie Wonder  -  8
12. Night Moves  -  Bob Seger  -  8
13. Lost Without Your Love  -  Bread  -  9
14. Dancing Queen  -  ABBA  -  9
15. Weekend In New England  -  Barry Manilow  -  10
16. Walk This Way  -  Aerosmith  -  10
17. Year Of TheCat  -  Al Stewart  -  11
18. Go Your Own Way  -  Fleetwood Mac  -  14
19. Hard Luck Woman  -  Kiss  -  15
20. You Make Me Feel Like Dancing  -  Leo Sayer  -  15
21. Boogie Child  -  Bee Gees  -  16
22. Somebody To Love  -  Queen  -  16
23. Don't Leave Me This Way  -  Thelma Houston  -  17
24. Jeans On  -  David Dundas  -  17
25. Rich Girl  -  Daryl Hall John Oates  -  18
26. The ThingsWe Do For Love  -  10cc  -  19
27. Carry On Wayward Son  -  Kansas  -  21
28. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing  -  Donny & Marie Osmond  -  21
29. Save It For A Rainy Day  -  Stephen Bishop  -  22
30. You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)  -  Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.  -  23
31. Long Time  -  Boston  -  24
32. After The Lovin'  -  Engelbert Humperdinck  -  24
33. Living Next Door To Alice  -  Smokie  -  25
34. Maybe I'm Amazed  -  Wings  -  26
35. Don't Give Up On Us  -  David Soul  -  27
36. Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow  -  Tom Jones  -  28
37. Saturday Nite  -  Earth, Wind & Fire  -  29
38. Crackerbox Palace  -  George Harrison  -  30
39. Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)  -  Rod Stewart  -  30
40. Stand Tall  -  Burton Cummings  -  31

Aside:  the linked youtube videos for "Year Of The Cat" and "Foreplay / Long Time" are from shows I attended in 2016.  Not my videis, though.

Horsenettle?

I'm no bottanist, but some internet digging convinces me this is horse-nettle. And apparently it is rather poisonous. I though these berries were pretty cool, though.

I generally hate my attempts at macro / close-up, I think I'm just not patient enough.  But this turned out ok.  Enough dof to have the subject in focus, but decent blur on the background.  Still, the tops of the stems could be crisper...

Brussels Ferry

From last monthm (January 2017), this is the Brussels Ferry that crosses the Illinois River just north of Grafton, Illinois.  From an eagle watching excursion which inexplicably didn't make it onto the blog.  I'll have to rectify that.
 
I've  lived in this area for 27+ years, but have never taken this ferry.  My wife did long ago, taking the girls peach picking in Calhoun County, IL.    Maybe this spring we'll have to make an excursion.  Just not for Peaches!

Paint It Black

I was looking over my recent posts, and realized that there aren't many (new) photos...  I'm not off to a good start on 2017.  But it isn't that I'm not shooting, just not been good about posting.  I'll try to kick it up, get it back to where it ought to be.  Sorry for my fade.....

So here we go:

This was posted over at 365project way back on January 11th.  Just a little something I saw during lunch time wanderings (In Belleville, IL).  Titled (obviously) from the Rolling Stones song.

- - -

"I see a red door and I want it painted black, No colours anymore, I want them to turn black"

- - -

I entered this in one of the challenges they run over there...  a challenge to come up with photos inspired by song titles.  Kind of cool, this one won the round!  Besides the glory, the reward is to host the next round (which I did).

Meanwhile, there's a very cool version of "Paint It Black" on the soundtrack from the HBO series.  Check it out here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iZ9JRVmJ5o


The various challenges are one of the things I like about 365project.  

Top 40 Hits - February 1967

Continuing the series, running late for February:

What were the top songs of the month in February 1967 (50 years ago)?  Well, looking at Billboard's Hot 100, ranking by peak position during the month, with ties settled by average position over the 5 weeks of the month....  and presenting the top 40:


           Song  -  Artist  -    Peak Position (Feb.)

1. I'm A Believer  -  The Monkees  -  1 
2. Kind Of A Drag  -  The Buckinghams  -  1 
3. Georgy Girl  -  The Seekers  -  2  
4. Love Is Here And Now You're Gone  -  The Supremes  -  2  
5. Ruby Tuesday  -  The Rolling Stones  -  3
6. Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron  -  The Royal Guardsmen  -  3  
7. Tell It Like It Is  -  Aaron Neville  -  4  
8. (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet  -  Blues Magoos  -  5  
9. The Beat Goes On  -  Sonny & Cher  -  6 
10. Words Of Love  -  The Mamas & The Papas  -  6 
11. 98.6  -  Keith  -  7 
12. Gimme Some Lovin'  -  The Spencer Davis Group  -  7 
13. Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye  -  The Casinos  -  8 
14. Good Thing  -  Paul Revere & The Raiders Featuring Mark Lindsay  -  9  
15. Standing In The Shadows Of Love  -  Four Tops  -  10  
16. Baby I Need Your Lovin'  -  Johnny Rivers  -  10  
17. Green, Green Grass Of Home  -  Tom Jones  -  11 
18. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)  -  The Electric Prunes  -  11  
19. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy  -  Cannonball Adderley  -  11 
20. Stand By Me  -  Spyder Turner  -  12  
21. Nashville Cats  -  The Lovin' Spoonful  -  12 
22. Sock It To Me-Baby!  -  Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels  -  14
23. Music To Watch Girls By  -  Bob Crewe Generation  -  15  
24. Pretty Ballerina  -  The Left Banke  -  15  
25. Knight In Rusty Armour  -  Peter And Gordon  -  15  
26. Go Where You Wanna Go  -  The 5th Dimension  -  16 
27. It Takes Two  -  Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston  -  18 
28. My Cup Runneth Over  -  Ed Ames  -  19  
29. Color My World  -  Petula Clark  -  19  
30. Wild Thing  -  Senator Bobby Featuring Bill Minkin  -  20  
31. You Got To Me  -  Neil Diamond  -  21 
32. Tell It To The Rain  -  The 4 Seasons Featuring the Sound of Frankie Valli  -  21  
33. Sugar Town  -  Nancy Sinatra  -  22  
34. It's Now Winters Day  -  Tommy Roe  -  23  
35. Where Will The Words Come From  -  Gary Lewis And The Playboys  -  25 
36. For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)  -  The Buffalo Springfield  -  25  
37. Hello Hello  -  The Sopwith Camel  -  26 
38. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game  -  The Marvelettes  -  26 
39. Darling Be Home Soon  -  The Lovin' Spoonful  -  27  
40. I've Passed This Way Before  -  Jimmy Ruffin  -  28 

Eat At Bert's

Mex Ian Food!

Downtown Colinsville, IL on a recent evening.  The weather remains unseasonably warm...

Quotated

To allow the unknown to occur and to occur requires clarity. For where there is clarity, there is no choice.  And where there is choice, there is misery.  But then why should anyone listen to me? Why should I speak since I know nothing?

- Monkees (from the soundtrack to "Head")

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Quotated...

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

- Socrates

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